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Lunar Transport Vehicle
' Lunar Transport Vehicle', LTV, is a heavy transport workhorse designed to shuttle cargo and supplies, and the occasionally replacement crew personnel to the Moon. The LTV's modular design consists of a command cockpit, an interchangeable cargo midsection and a propulsion system with lander legs designed for moon landings. LTV is designed and manufactured by Saab with the support and supervision of Union Space Center of theKalmar Union. The project is part of the International Moon Station. Design ' LTV '''design was carried out taking into account the future specific needs of the station. The design process involved a multidisciplinary group of experts form Kalmar Union, Sierra and Brazoria. The concept was to create a vehicle capable of adapting to transport materials for construction, supplies and personnel, so from the outset the designers thought of a modular system. The first sketches came to light in late 2014 and the first 1:1 scale prototype will be ready in early 2018. Modules Command Cockpit The Command Cockpit module is inspired by the cockpit of the Brazorian Space Shuttle. This is a compartment which houses the crew and all navigation and ship control systems. It is manufactured with the latest computer and navigation systems and built with advanced materials to ensure the safety of the ship at all times. They are built for 3 to 5 trips with minimum maintenance. The project consist in the manufacture of three Command Cockpit modules in order to guarantee the avaliability of at least one operative at any time. Cargo Midsections The Cargo Midsections are designed according to use, but basically consist of a compartment dimensones forms and variables that also contains four lander legs designed for moon landings. The projected types of Cargo Midsections are: *BUS LTV Midsection (For personel transport) *Liquid & Gas Transport LTV Cargo Midsection *Container Transport LTV Cargo Midsection *Vehicle Transport LTV Cargo Midsection Propulsion System The propulsion system is the most advanced to date. It is a Magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) Thruster that produce extremely high specific impulses (Isp) with an exhaust velocity of up to and beyond 110,000 m/s, triple the value of current xenon-based ion thrusters, and about 20 times better than liquid rockets. MPD technology also has the potential for thrust levels of up to 200 newtons (N), by far the highest for any form of electric propulsion. This would allow use of electric propulsion on missions which require quick delta-v maneuvers (such as capturing into orbit around another planet), but with many times greater fuel efficiency. In the Volvo '''MPD Thruster' a gaseous fuel (hydrogen) is ionized and fed into an acceleration chamber, where the magnetic and electrical fields are created using a power source. The particles are then propelled by the Lorentz force resulting from the interaction between the current flowing through the plasma and the magnetic field (which is induced by the current) out through the exhaust chamber. Unlike chemical propulsion, there is no combustion of fuel. The necessary energy for the operation is expected to be provided by an experimental thorim fussion reactor. Timeline *'November 2012': First sketches *'May 2018': First 1:1 prototype *'August 2020': First Volvo MPD Thruster 'fiel test *'December 2022: Maiden earth flight *'March 2024': Final ship tests *'July 2025': First lunar mission Category:Kalmar Union Category:Technology